Nonexistent
by eleutheromaniac
Summary: It's not that Roxas doesn't believe in love—he just doesn't understand it. Unfortunately for him, he's running out of time to realize that he should have spent his senior year looking back at the past instead of ahead at the future. He has other things to focus on though: Kairi's weird cousin, Sora's confidence issues, Axel's sanity, and running a trashy blog. He'll miss it.
1. Chapter 1

He feels suffocated.

There's a dull ache reverberating throughout his body but he can't quite put his finger on what it is that's causing it. Like a treacherous echo, it licks shyly at his skin in a slow, teasing manner and the sleeping figure imagines that there's a faint, familiar voice, calling for him, calling his name.

He hasn't heard her speak for what feels like years and, realizing this subconsciously, his dream intensifies its hold on his ankles.

It's not until he hears an idyllic song that he's pulled back into reality. Blue eyes instantaneously open as the figure is forced back into his present and away from the seductive song of his slumber.

His hotel room is on fire.

"Shit," he curses, finally realizing why he had felt so heavy in his sleep as he grabs his pair of jeans from the floor and hurriedly puts them on. The song that had awoken him has finally stopped and as he looks around in agitation, he realizes that he can't figure out where it had been coming from. Whatever it was had reeked of nostalgia; teased him with the memory of a memory: one that was surely his but surely without a name.

Either way, he realizes that he doesn't have time for this. He grabs for the keys to his bike, his wallet, and shouts another bout of angry indignation as he realizes that he's unable to locate his cell phone.

It isn't until the old jingle begins to play once more that darkened blue traces its location.

If he had still been allowed the right to be himself, there would have been a moment of hesitation and tentativeness in regards to the mysterious phone call. Unfortunately for him, the room is on fire, no one will be coming to his aid, and, at this point, the man's had enough of the bullshit that the others like to consider nothing more than a silly game.

Grabbing the aged device from where it had been resting on the bed, the man taps a green icon on the screen and mutters an impatient, "What?"

" _Your brother._ "

The pair of words stings more than the flames.

"What about him?"

On the other end of the line is sad laughter.

And then it goes dead.

"Fuck," the man finishes lamely. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

He longs for a moment to just allow the phone to drop from his hand and onto the floor below him. He longs for a moment to forget about everything that's happened, everything that still _has_ to happen, everything that's happen _ing_. He longs for a moment to just bow his head in remorse and simply mourn for the life that he had and the life that he had lost; for the resounding emptiness that has decided to hold camp within the blank vacancy of his heart; for the brother who had once always been there but now seems like an imaginary friend he had conjured up in order to remind himself that he didn't always have to be alone.

But the room is on fire. So he probably doesn't have time for that.

He can't even remember the last time he had allowed himself to cry.

Not allowing himself to think another moment on the matter, the man pulls the ragged black hoodie over his head, pockets what little remains of his things, and dashes through the door right before it collapses from the heat of the flames.

* * *

 **n _o_ ** n _e_ **x** **i** _s_ ** _t_ e **_n_ **t**

* * *

 ** _two years ago._**

logging onto _thmblr_. . .

log-in successful.

Would you like to post a private entry?

 **Yes.** | No.

06/13/xxxx

This is so weird and I feel absolutely dumb for doing this, but okay. It's for my brother, Sora. He says that my weird "pseudo-angst" phase has gone on long enough and that if I don't vent to _him_ about it, then I should at least vent to _the entire Internet_ about it.

He may be the older twin but age doesn't really matter: I'm pretty sure I'm still the brighter one.

… I say as I proceed to _essentially_ vent to the entire Internet about my problems anyway because I have no idea what else to do, I'm bored as fuck during my summer vacation, and I figure that since this is private Sora won't be able to read it anyway which I _really_ appreciate because he needs to stop fretting about me and worry about his own life. I can take care of myself.

So where to start?

Alright, Internet, my name is Roxas Hikari. I'm seventeen and in a month or two, I'll be starting my final year over at Twilight Town Prep. I'm not smarter than my friend, Riku (who's probably going to be valedictorian), but I'm not dumber than my other friend, Tidus, who is as stupid as he is athletic (so basically a lot). I'm not richer than Selphie (who can afford to throw away any article of clothing after wearing it once), but I'm not poorer than Olette (who lives with just her bedridden grandmother and whose only household income is provided by the government). I'm not as attractive as Kairi, but I'd say I'm a better catch than Pence. I'm not as outgoing as Hayner or Axel, but I'm definitely more sociable than Xion.

I'm just an incredibly average guy living it up in an incredibly average town with an exceptional brother that's willing to do whatever it takes to put a smile on my face and an exceptional mother who is a world-famous doctor.

I don't have a dad—or, I mean, I guess I _technically_ have a dad, but it's not like I would really know. Him and my mother divorced when Sora and I were only four. Just goes to show you that "love" isn't really all it's hyped up to be.

Yes, Internet, I get it: I'm seventeen. I'm not supposed to get what "love" is.

Well, frankly, you sound like an old, angry white man and I don't give a damn about your critiques of my generation.

Ugh, it's awful that I'm basically talking to an inanimate object and can already feel myself getting worked up and frustrated over a lack of understanding that the two of us share. I'm so terrible with words—that's where it probably comes from. I don't know. Either way, this is why I can't talk to a _real_ person about any of my problems and have to settle for this. Great.

You're doing this for Sora, Roxas. Just remind yourself that, stop getting angry, and finish your stupid rant to your stupid laptop screen.

From what I've gathered, "love" as we've come to know it has become so idealized that it's simply unrealistic. When you think of "love," you think about _The Notebook_ or those stupid Disney princess movies, and stuff like that is exactly what it is: fictional. It's not about destiny and it's not about soulmates. The closest things we really have to love in this world of ours are infatuation and the bonds of friendship. Or maybe that counts as borderline love. I don't know. I'm not good at wording myself.

It's like…. When you think of falling in love with someone, you imagine that everything becomes just peachy and that the only thing that matters in your world is _her_ (or him, for that matter) and you start to believe that even if things look like they're going to bad, they're going to turn out just _fine_ because you love someone and they love you and so as long as you have their love and they have yours it'll be okay, because that's what we're all content with settling with nowadays: being okay.

Sometimes though, I watch the way Sora looks at Kairi and I think to myself, "Man, if love exists, then they have it."

But I don't know, he hasn't found the balls to even ask her out yet, so I guess I'll get back to you on that.

Oh, who am I kidding. I don't think I'm going to bother writing another one of these. Ever. In my entire life. Talk about an awful waste of twenty minutes, Sora, I could be beating those DLC levels for Fire Emblem that I never got to last year.

Goodbye, Internet. Or at least, thmblr's blogging section. I think I'll stick to the more social aspect of social networking; you know, status updates and photos of food and the like.

Wait! If you exit the server now, your thoughts will be deleted!

Oh no, save it as a draft! | **Yeah, as they should be.**

* * *

Roxas slams the laptop shut with a growl and kicks angrily at the ground, forcing his rolling chair to scoot out from under his loft bed. Hearing the sound, an all-too-familiar head pokes out from under the bedsheets to stare down at the incoherent blond.

"Well, Roxie? Finally done venting to the keyboard about your daddy issues?"

"God, Sora," the slightly younger man exclaims as he grabs a pair of three-day-old boxers from off the floor and chucks it in the vague direction of his chuckling brother. "You know that's not what it's about!"

The brunet easily catches the underwear in-between his teeth with a suggestive smile—much to Roxas' disgust. " _I_ know that that's what it's about, but it seems like _you_ 're still in denial." With an abrupt turn of his head, the pair of boxers falls beside him on the bed and he licks his lips with curiosity. "Hey, did you have a burrito for lunch a few days ago?"

His brother wrinkles his nose in distaste, looks around for something else to throw up at his elder, but ultimately fails in his task. "I'm not going to answer that question. Or respond to that comment. God, Sora, you're _awful_."

"I mean," he starts, and Roxas instantly narrows his eyes at the way Sora trails off with that slightly high-pitched tone of his because it's a tone that's only ever used when he wants something. "If _I_ 'm that awful, then since you're such an amazing twin brother—"

Seeing that he was right in his assumption, the blond rotates his spinning chair away from the unfinished plea and makes a start for the bedroom door. "Nope. I feel like we do this every time we're bored. Go call Riku or Tidus to help you out this time because I'm not in the mood."

"But Rox _ass,_ " he moans, "They're never as good as _you_!"

His younger brother is torn between snorting at the pathetic attempt at flattery and scowling at the nickname. He settles for an odd mixture of both.

"I swear, for the past three years, whenever you get bored you ask me to help you think of a cool way to ask Kairi out. And then we spend hours coming up with something and you _still_ don't ask her out. Like, I don't even understand what the point of this is anymore because at this point it's just really sad."

And then Sora does this _thing_ where he sticks out his bottom lip just a tad and widens his eyes as much as he can and just _stares_ at Roxas while making a low whimpering noise in the back of his throat.

The blond already has his hand on the doorknob and it would just be so _easy_ for him to twist and push and be along his way, but of course, he wouldn't be Roxas if he wasn't easily suckered into doing things he didn't want to do.

"Fine," he allows with a sigh as he throws himself back into his spinning chair. "Plan: SoKai is totally a Thing, Version 137. Let's go."

There's a whooping cheer from atop the loft bed until Sora succeeds in hitting his head on the ceiling and toppling onto the floor with a pained, "I-I did that on purpose!"

Roxas can't help but laugh, "Yeah, as per usual."

* * *

 _"It's for the best."_

 _"But I'm scared."_

 _"Just believe that things will be okay."_

 _"I-I don't know that they_ will _be!"_

 _"There's nothing else that can be done. I'm sorry."_

Darkness.

* * *

 **a/n:** Hi there! Some of you may recognize me as the former 0Wishful-Thoughts0 and this story as a remake of my original Kingdom Hearts fanfic of the same title. The story was never finished on my old account, but after three years (and some big changes to my writing style), I've decided to restart it and revamp it.

And don't worry: this time I would've already introduced the main focus of the plot before we hit Chapter 15, LOL.

With this revamp, I'm hoping to keep the story more balanced (catering to both the "drama" category and the "humor" category instead of trying to focus too much on the latter) and more focused (eliminating some of the elaborate filler stuff I had going on in the first take of this story), so I hope that everyone will enjoy it a bit more. c:

Thanks to everyone for reading and feedback is super appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

I'd be a liar if I claimed that I wasn't a morning person, because in a weird way, I am. To put it bluntly, I'm a giant baby who grew up on accident; all I really do is eat, piss, do schoolwork, cry over schoolwork, poop, eat some more, and then sleep. Hanging out with my friends is an auxiliary activity that I only ever take part in because Sora does, and as far as I'm concerned, my older twin is my babysitter, so he has to drag me around wherever he goes—not that I mind, of course, because for all my complaining, I'm one million percent confident that I'd be nothing without my brother.

So I'm all for that good old rise and shine as long as I wake up when I _feel_ like waking up. The way I see it, "morning" is defined by the first few hours after you get your ass out of bed. And once I'm fully up, I'm damn ready to tackle the day. So yeah, morning person.

Being seventeen hasn't really changed that outlook on life.

In fact, being seventeen just means that I cry more.

"Roxas, come on, get _up_ ," Sora begs, continuing to shake the railing of my loft bed. "You've been sleeping for, like, _five_ _million_ _years_!"

With a groan, I decidedly turn onto my side and cover my face with a pillow. "Go away, Sora."

I don't even have to look up at my twin's expression because I can practically _feel_ it from behind me: furrowed brows, glaring eyes, lips drawn into a tight line, hands balled into fists at his side, and cheeks a vicious shade of red as Sora proceeds to childishly hold in his breath until I agree to get out of bed.

There's a clear reason as to why the two of us are always getting into trouble: if Sora's supposed to serve the role as babysitter, then he definitely isn't a very reliable one.

Torn between allowing my brother to die and having to get up out of bed, I throw my pillow as hard as I can at the brunet below me and mumble an annoyed, "Just leave me alone, I want to sleep."

A faint "oof" emanates throughout the room as air is suddenly knocked into Sora's lungs and I'm _very_ aware that I've started a war that I very certainly do _not_ have enough energy for. That awareness, however, threatens to lull me into the world of the living—which would be god _awful_ —so I hurriedly shoo it away.

But before I know it, there's an added weight onto my mattress (that I'm still _desperately_ trying to ignore) and a hot breath in my face that whispers, "Wake _up_ , Roxie" before decidedly licking the shell of my ear.

Needless to say, I jolt up instantaneously at the unwelcome touch, succeeding in bumping my head on the ceiling and tumbling down onto the floor.

As I force my eyes open into a vengeful glare, Sora's familiar smirk peeps over the edge of the loft bed. "Oh, how the tables have turned!"

"Was all of that even necessary?" I moan as I gingerly rub the back of my head. "Man, fuck _you_."

A smirk.

"When?"

"God, Sora, that's _incest_!"

"Oh. I suppose you're right."

* * *

 **n** _ **o**_ n _e_ **x** **i** _s __**t**_ **e** _n_ **t**

* * *

"I hate you."

"No, you _love_ me."

"I do. But right now, I _hate_ you."

Sora lets out a snort at my remark, "Stop holding grudges, Roxie, it's unbecoming." I can do nothing but glower at him. "It's the last day of summer and all you've really done is sit in your room, play video games, and _occasionally_ come out with the rest of us because Selphie throws a fit on thmblr."

"Sounds like the ideal way to spend summer vacation," I mutter, breaking away from my position next to my brother in favor of grinding on the nearby railway with my skateboard and finishing it off with a hella awesome air walk.

As though taking it as a challenge, Sora mimics the action before transitioning into a series of spins. When he lands, he rolls up in tandem with me once more before continuing, "You know that Selph has it bad for you, right? Just let her down gently."

"Already did."

"Did you tell her that it's because you like Xion?"

I can feel a vein threatening to pop once more as we begin to encroach territory that I'm simply not comfortable with. I allow myself a glimpse of my twin's twinkling eyes and regret doing so almost instantaneously. "I don't like Xion that way."

"Oh, come _on_ , it's pretty obvious. If not Xion, then Olette."

"I don't like Olette that way either."

There's a pause as Sora stops moving forward on his board, and not knowing what else to do, I do the same. "Um, Axel?"

I manage to tone back my annoyance into a mild sigh. "Look, I may not be very sure about my sexual orientation, but I can tell you for a _fact_ that I would rather stuff an entire corndog up my ass than fall in love with _that_ idiot."

It's silent for a moment as a single brunet eyebrow raises itself in surprise. And then all of a sudden I feel myself get tackled to the ground by a surprisingly muscular figure while a familiar voice giggles in the not-so-very-far distance. "Is that a _challenge_ I hear?"

Sora's roaring with hysteria and I'm not really sure why until I feel something odd and foreign poking my ass cheek and holy _shit_ , is my brother actually laughing while I'm about to get raped? Like, what the hell, man, I thought you were supposed to look out for me?

Fake as fuck.

"O-Oh, hey! Look at his face! Hayner, get off, I think you really freaked him out!"

I sigh inwardly because my friends need to realize that there are certain things that they shouldn't do in public. Wait, scratch that: certain things that they shouldn't do _at all_.

There's a pause as my fellow blond hurriedly rolls off my body before offering me a hand to help myself up. Apologies are tumbling out of his mouth at an alarming rate, and in the background I hear my brother's laughter intensify. I wave Hayner's words away without much real thought and turn my glare towards Sora. "Dude, _this_ is why I can say I hate you."

The words instantly cut his laughter short as he turns to gape at me with wide eyes. "W-What? Oh, come _on_ , that was funny! Hayner and Olette couldn't have had better timing!"

"It's a good thing we decided to stop by Pence's family's bookstore, huh? Otherwise we would've missed out on this _golden_ opportunity." Just like my brother, Olette has this weird power I've dubbed "the all-knowing smirk." Standing next to Hayner with a hand upon her hip and a single eyebrow raised, she looks like the older (actually responsible) sibling that I never had—complete with the occasional condescending frown, heaps of _actually_ useful advice, and free food. Olette is basically the dream.

In this moment though, it's a bit difficult for me to tell where her true allegiances lie. So with a scowl, I turn my attention away from her in order to maintain my fixated glare on my brother's twinkling grin. "The entire universe is against me, Sora, and I've come to believe that you're the commander of her army."

Hayner lacks the decency to refrain from chuckling at my comment, his composure regained a little too fast for my liking. With a single look from Olette, however, he quiets himself down.

"Chill," Sora insists with a crinkled nose, "Blood is thicker than water, Rox. I'd never abandon you—you know that."

" _Actually_ , the full quote is 'the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,' Sora," my auburn-haired friend jumps in casually. When we all look at her in confusion, she rolls her eyes and explains, "It means that the bonds you choose to make of your own accord are stronger than your familial ties." The sentence is enough to make things clear as day for me and once I realize that Olette's taken my side (though, now that I think about it, that shouldn't be _too_ shocking), I have to force myself to _not_ fling my body at her in thanks. My older brother, however, looks like he still doesn't understand what the fuck's going on, so she sighs. "Sora, you're just wrong, okay?"

And if it had been anyone other than Olette to say those words to him, it's likely that my brunet brother would've put up a pretty pointless fight. However, it _is_ Olette, and because the two of us have been ever-so-close to her for the past seventeen years of our lives, Sora doesn't question her at all. Instead, he shoots an agonized look at Hayner before quickly grabbing the blond's hand, "Oh, buddy, it looks like I'm all alone on this one. Don't make me fight both Roxas _and_ Olette with my wits all by myself! You know that I don't stand a chance!"

Hayner throws his head back in an easy laugh. "Sora, I think they have you beat. Like, they probably don't even have to come up with any insults for you: they'll just point out all the dumb flaws in anything it is that you say. And sorry, but I don't like associating myself with the _losing_ team."

My brother can do nothing but guffaw, and after hearing Hayner's words, Olette and I high five before I throw in, "But let's be real: Hayner just doesn't want to join you in this fight because he knows that he'll only be deadweight."

The blond's jaw drops almost automatically while Olette cheers, "Oooh, _burn_!"

Sora looks absolutely devastated due to his nonexistent recovery as he screeches, "Hayner! They're defiling your honor!" He's looking down at the ground, seemingly hopeless, until some kind of (dumb) idea pops into his mind and he suddenly turns to look at all three of us with a bad idea sparkling in his eyes,

"There's only one man who can save us now, Hayner…"

My eyes widen. "Sora. No. Sora, don't even—"

"THERE'S ONLY ONE MAN WHO CAN SAVE US _NOW_ , HAYNER!"

"Dear God," the blond mumbles.

"I thought that we agreed that we wouldn't—"

" _Yes_ ," I answer quickly for Olette. "We _did_ agree on that."

Sora, however, doesn't seem to be deterred in the slightest. "THERE IS ONLY _ONE_ MAN IN THE _ENTIRE TWILIGHT TOWN_ WHO CAN SAVE US NOW, HAYNER!"

All hope has been forsaken. Fuck my life.

Without another word, Sora's grabs Hayner by the wrist and proceeds to make a mad dash in the general direction of a certain apartment complex that we've all come to know a little _too_ well.

Olette and I share a glance with one another and it's clear that we're both thinking that we should run after them because not stopping them now would likely cause bigger problems that neither of us would feel like dealing with. It also simultaneously occurs to us that _wow_ , running is _a lot_ of energy.

So we shrug. I ask her if she wants a breakfast burrito at Taco Bell. She immediately looks repulsed and tells me I should try to be healthier. We walk to Taco Bell anyway and choose to pretend that we don't even know who Sora is.

You know, just another typical day in the life.

* * *

 **Roxas Hikari** is with **Olette Hart** at **Taco Bell**.

[ _image currently not available_ ]

 **Xion Soren** : Rox, when did you become a teenage white girl? All you've posted on your thmblr recently are a series of food pics. And the food you're eating looks absolutely disgusting. As one of your best friends, I feel that I need to express my sincere worry.  
( **Riku Takama** , **Olette Hart** , and **34 others** like this)

 **Selphie Tilmitt** : Do you have something against teenage white girls, Xion? I smell an unknowingly racist remark.

 **Olette Hart** : I smell someone needing to chill.  
( **Xion Soren** , **Riku Takama** , and **23 others** like this)

 **Roxas Hikari** : I embrace my inner teenage white girl. It's one of my favorite stereotypes. Go, my legions of followers: to Starbucks!  
( **Tidus Artz** , **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** , and **27 others** like this)

. . . . . . . .

 **Tidus Artz** : I once had a dream to change my last name in order to set myself apart from my father. **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** is my new rolemodel.  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** , **Selphie Tilmitt** , and **63 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : What can I say? I like to make dreams come true.  
( **17 people** like this)

 **Tidus Artz** : Teach me your ways, oh wise one.  
( **13 people** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : Kay. Meet me at the Sandlot in about an hour. Make sure to bring an inflatable bath ring, a megaphone, fifteen pounds of shaved ice, a lifesize cardboard cutout of your dad, ten empty bottles of both ketchup and mustard, a leather whip, two of your best pool noodles, about two hundred yards of rope, and your favorite rubber duck. And don't be late—that's the first rule of being my apprentice.  
( **Sora Hikari** , **Demyx Nocturne** , and **127 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : And before you say anything else, the second rule of being Axel's apprentice is that you can't question me. Ever. Don't even /think/ about questioning me because you will instantly be fired. I can read minds, man, I know these things.  
( **Tidus Artz** , **Larxene Flash** , and **38 others** like this)

. . . . . . . .

 **Kairi Soto** is bored affff. someone. hmu. please.  
( **Sora Hikari** , **Selphie Tilmitt** , and **57 others** like this)

 **Sora Hikari:** KAIRIIIIII!  
( **Kairi Soto** likes this)

 **Kairi Soto** : SORAAAA! What's up with my favorite person in the world? (heart)(heart)(heart)  
( **Sora Hikari** likes this)

 **Sora Hikari:** (blush) Oh, you know how it issssss.  
( **Kairi Soto** likes this)

 **Sora Hikari** : Roxas has once again challenged my honor and now I'm getting ready to challenge him to a jousting match to the death in order to restore honor to both my name and Hayner's, and with the help of Axel as my personal trainer I'm sure to win—there's just one problem. I need a horse. Kairi, you beautiful soul, will you do me the honor of being my horse?  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** , **Demyx Nocturne** , and **73 others** like this)

 **Kairi Soto** : what

 **Olette Hart** : what

 **Roxas Hikari** : man, fuck me.  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** likes this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : Gladly. (wink)  
( **Larxene Flash** , **Luxord Gamblette** , and **8 others** like this)

 **Roxas Hikari** : I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD

 **Selphie Tilmitt** : Language! (smile)  
( **Xion Soren** , **Olette Hart** , and **17 others** like this)

 **Roxas Hikari** : Dead. I'm just dead.

. . . . . . . .

 **Sora Hikari** is building up his horse army and he wants YOU to take part in the history that is about to be made.

[event created at **The Sandlot** in t- **1 hour** ]

[ **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** and **Tidus Artz** are attending]

[ **Hayner Arden** and **Kairi Soto** are maybe attending]

[ **Roxas Hikari** is not attending]

[ **3,282,001** people have been invited]

 **Roxas Hikari** : Did you just invite all of your followers to this stupid jousting tournament

 **Sora Hikari** : Yes. Yes, I did. Yours too. And Axel's. I need all the horses in the world in order to defeat you, my mortal nemesis.

 **Roxas Hikari** : This isn't happening.

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : Oh, but Roxas? IT IS.

 **Roxas Hikari** : How are we even going to joust? How does that even work? I don't even have a horse!

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : Roxie, Roxie, Roxie. You're focusing on all the wrong things! Look, as your best friend, I'll give you some real advice—just don't tell my client. Make sure you have good aim, a nice leather whip, and a trusty steed.

 **Sora Hikari** : I had kind of assumed that you'd be riding Olette.

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : AYYYYYY. ROXIE BE GETTING SOME /ACTION/.

 **Olette Hart** : No. Just no.

 **Roxas Hikari** : It's all over. This is how my life ends.

* * *

"Olette, tell me this is a dream."

"Roxas, if it is, I'd ask you to wake us _both_ up," Olette moans, auburn hair messily spread onto her half of the Taco Bell table as she continues to softly hit her head against the surface. "This is it. This is the headache that we knew was going to happen but wanted to avoid."

My locked phone sits between the two of us on the table, next to my unfinished burrito. Both Olette and I are glued to my phone screen that continues to remain lit due to the influx of notifications that it's receiving. The brunette before me is so out of it that she's even stopped questioning the plastic nature of the food around us—and that _really_ says something.

"I don't even know how Axel's going to _stage_ a jousting tournament. Like, how is that even going to work?"

"It's not," Olette answers easily with a sigh. "This is just a really bad idea and someone's going to end up with an incredibly broken body on the last day of summer. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just Axel, but I feel like we're all just going to get screwed over. How are we going to explain this to our parents?"

To be completely honest, I think my mom would probably laugh before she panicked. I don't know, I just imagine that her friends did equally dumb things during their days of youth, so she's probably not one to judge. I can imagine other adults getting upset though. Especially Tidus' dad. The poor guy doesn't even stand a chance.

So we're just sitting here, being miserable about our coming demise, until we both notice a group of individuals standing beside our table. They'd look kind of menacing, except I already know who they are, so a little less menacing.

But then I remember that I only know them because Axel hangs out with them. So they're immediately menacing again.

"Hey, mini-Ven," the scarier looking one calls, making an allusion to this guy who will eventually become _very_ important to the story—but I don't feel like explaining that now. Just know that I look a lot like this Ven guy except I have a little less muscle to me and am somewhat shorter. Also know that a nickname comparing me to a soccer mom's number one choice in car really pisses me off. "Heard that you're getting into a fight today?"

I groan, "Unfortunately. Another one of Sora and Axel's dumb ideas."

"Well, it's your lucky day!"

"And why's that?"

Xigbar shoots a devilish smirk our way before stating, "Axel hasn't paid his rent for the past few months and has been asking for us to cover him. He owes us a lot of money and probably won't be paying us back anytime soon. This seems like an innocently brutal way of getting back at him and we're all prepared."

While it may sound like they're totally a part of some kind of mafia (which they kind of are, but again, that's something that I'll expand on later) or something and are getting ready to use this stupid "jousting tournament" as a way to kill Axel off for good, my redheaded friend would at least be counted as _part_ of their mafia, so he should be safe. They wouldn't kill one of their own, right?

And even if they did, it would just make my life a whole lot easier, in all honesty.

So as I stare at this all-in-black crew of men that look like they shop exclusively at Hot Topic, I can do nothing but shrug and agree with a mere, "As long as _I_ don't get sued, I'm all for it."

Xigbar and Vexen start laughing hysterically, Lexaeus and Xaldin look incredibly bored, and Zexion looks like he has no idea as to why he even hangs out with a bunch of losers—and in that moment, he is my total spirit animal.

My eyes slide over to Olette, and for the lack of a better description, let's just say that her expression alone states exactly this: "This is an awful idea and if it was bad before, things are going to get ten times worse, but I guess it's okay because at least we're going to win this battle against Sora and Hayner—those dumbfucks."

"Yes," I agree with a wink, "Dumbfucks indeed."

The laughter stops almost instantly as Xaldin turns a stony-eyed glare towards me. "Who're you calling dumbfucks?"

I can do nothing but smile nervously and gesture at things in a failed attempt to make sense.

I don't think anyone really buys it.

* * *

So Olette and I walk into the Sandlot two minutes later than we were supposed to, and even then, we only go there because Sora wouldn't stop screaming at me via cell phone and we figured that shutting him up would be a good idea. Our newfound posse is trailing behind us, doing their part of looking badass.

Except maybe Vexen. He just looks like he's on a really bad trip.

Anyway, the area's been divided into two sections: Team Big Boy Hikari (presumably Sora) and Team Weenie Hikari (unfortunately me). There's a small platform in the middle of it all where a cardboard cutout of Tidus' dad stands holding a rubber ducky dressed up as a vampire. Somewhere in the back, there's a snow cone stand with the only flavors being "red" and "yellow," manned by a confused-looking Demyx and an annoyed-looking Larxene. Next to the faux image of his father is Tidus clad in what seems to be his Blitzball gear and an inflatable ring around his waist. He's holding a megaphone and yelling random nonsense into it in order to get the sizable crowd riled up. There's a pretty obvious earpiece in his ear, and Axel's sitting a few feet away by Sora and Hayner shouting things into a walkie talkie, so it's clear that Tidus isn't as clever as I had originally given him credit for.

All in all, it looks like a mess.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" Sora jeers as he plays with a very questionable looking leather whip. "Are you ready to _lose_ , Roxas?"

"More like I'm ready to get this _over_ _with_ ," I respond with a roll of my eyes.

It isn't long until Sora's being tied with rope to Riku's shoulders and Hayner's being strapped onto Pence's, so Olette and I awkwardly hoist ourselves onto Lexaeus and Xaldin. Tidus hands each of us a neon-colored pool noodle as Axel (who suddenly has the megaphone) starts to explain his rules.

"Welcome one and all to Twilight Town's first ever jousting tournament to the death!" The crowd goes wild and I honestly wonder why they don't have something better to do on the last day of summer. I can see a few familiar faces though, like Xion waving to me with a look of pity etched on her features and Selphie screaming her head off in excitement at whatever it is that Axel's saying now. For some reason though, Kairi isn't in sight at all, which makes me incredibly curious. Judging from Sora's enthusiasm though, it looks like he hasn't noticed that the love of his life is absent from such a momentous occasion."On the challenger's side, we have Olette and Roxas, representing Team Weenie Hikari! Their two horses look pretty sturdy, but without a proper saddle, it may be easy to knock them to the ground!" Olette and I look at each other, and there's nothing really in our expressions: just this mutual feeling of being dead inside. "And representing our home team are Sora, Hayner, and their hella awesome army of horses! Like, wow, our challengers _definitely_ did not come prepared."

I then realize that there's a section of the Sandlot roped off and covered in hay where a large array of ecstatic teenagers (and one creepy looking adult) cheer.

Oh. Army of horses. _Right_.

Sora sits up a little straighter on his position atop Riku, who just laughs—he's having too much fun with this which vaguely concerns me. Hayner, at the least, has the decency to look a bit nervous. Below him, Pence multiplies this emotion by probably about a hundred.

"And, of course, I can't forget this year's lifeguard, Tidus Artz!" The boy in question places both hands on his hips and puffs his chest out, this wide grin on his face as though it's such an honor to be named a lifeguard in this water-less "fight to the death." "While I take on the role of referee, Tidus here, son of the famous Jecht the Jet, will make sure that no one dies! It's all pretty obvious though, you can see it in the life ring alone."

Axel's logic will never fail to confound me.

The crowd, however, is really eating up this nonsense and so it only spurs the redhead to shout more obscene bouts of nothingness. "Are you all having fun with your snowcones? Yeah, they were a nice touch, right?" When they cheer even louder, he turns to his girlfriend, Larxene, and mouths a cocky, "I told you so."

"But now for the culmination of all our endeavours… Are you guys ready to see a fight?"

The whooping and hollering intensifies and I can't help but wonder where the police are.

"Okay, let's get things _started_ —"

"Sora!"

Axel blinks in surprise at the interruption, turning around to face the missing auburn-haired girl clad in a pink halter top and dark hi-rise shorts. My brother seems shocked by her sudden appearance as well, especially since her face is a bright shade of red and she's breathing heavily. He's already starting to untie himself from his mess of knots atop Riku's shoulders, as he worriedly asks, "What's wrong, Kai? Is everything okay?"

She nods quickly, looking around herself for what seems to be the first time and taking in the scene. It looks like she hadn't expected Axel's little publicity stunt to get any attention either. Figures. "Yeah, everything's fine! Sorry for not responding to your texts earlier, there was a family situation I had to take care of." Seeing his expression, she quickly waves away the worry on his features. My poor brother, having failed to successfully untie himself, is tugging Riku's hair in various directions in an attempt to re-direct the older boy's motions in order to bring himself closer to Kairi. Because he's the cool guy that he is, the future valedictorian allows himself to be awkwardly manhandled.

Now that's what I call real friendship.

"Everything's alright, but my cousin is coming to live with me now! Do you want to come with me to pick her up?" She pauses, looking around at the gathered mass of people. "I hadn't realized there would be such a crowd. I guess I didn't think this thing through all the way," she manages with a light laugh. "You don't have to, I was just thinking that you'd like to meet her and all, so—"

"I-I would love to come, Kairi!" my brother shrieks, voice cracking a little too loudly for what is socially acceptable. He also succeeds in getting so excited that he tries to lurch himself forward, only resulting in Riku almost falling face-first onto the concrete.

He would have been pissed.

Axel's looking at the two in absolute shock as he realizes that his ultimate last-day-of-summer joust fest is about to collapse inward on itself. "Hey, wait! Sora, we have a contract!"

"We do?"

"Yeah, man, I bought you pizza!"

That doesn't really count as a contract at all and I'm about to inform my brother of this, but the poor guy looks absolutely crestfallen. "Oh yeah… It was pretty good pizza…"

Sora's looking absolutely heartbroken and I'm not really sure what's going to happen until my eyes catch Riku, who's looking back and forth between his best friend and the fiery redhead a few feet away from him. "Sora, dude, you can't be _serious_ right now."

My brunet brother looks absolutely torn, and as he opens his mouth to answer his friend, Riku decides to take initiative and starts sprinting out of the arena. Kairi looks surprised by the sudden turn of events, but with a light laugh, it's not long before she's bounding after them.

"W-Wait! Give me back my star!" Axel shrieks, his hand shooting out as though it'll be enough to catch them, but to no avail.

Hayner shoots him a wink before pulling on a key piece of rope, causing the mess of knots between him and Pence to untangle. He hops off his friend's shoulders and, with a large grin on his face, he gestures for the brunet to follow his lead as he grabs Xion and Selphie's wrists and dashes out of the Sandlot. The former can't help but look over her shoulder at Axel with an offensively derpy face, while the latter turns just to stick out her tongue at him before using her middle finger to pull down at the skin just below her left eye.

Tidus looks absolutely confused, but after realizing that all of Axel's plans have gone south, he shrugs, before grabbing for my abandoned skateboard. "I don't like being bored or looking dumb, man, so I guess I'll see you later!"

"No, man, you're fired! Tidus, _you're fired_!"

It's too late though because the blitzball star is way out of hearing distance by now.

That really just leaves Olette and I who only share a mere glance before jumping off our respective menacing-mafia-man (or in Olette's case, tugging at his shirt and pointing at the ground), and making a mad dash in what seems to be the direction of the airport. As we run, I can hear Axel's loud, awkward laughter as it's clearly evident that he doesn't know what to do now, and I can't help but chuckle at the dumb story he'll have to come up with in order to explain himself.

"Any regrets?"

"Zero. Absolutely zero."

* * *

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** thinks that high schoolers are fake as fuck and Sora I will never help you again  
( **Xigbar Snype** , **Zexion Scheme** , and **179 others** like this)

 **Sora Hikari** : uh, ily? (heart) (heart)  
( **Tidus Artz** , **Xion Soren** , and **7 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : i hope you get run over by a rabid, horny jaguar that escapes from the zoo and has a fetish for manboys named sora hikari  
( **Xaldin Armstrong** , **Marluxia Rose** , and **31 others** like this)

. . . . . . . .

 **Larxene Flash** is laughing hysterically at the rest of #theorganization publicly embarrassing her boyfriend

[ _video currently not available_ ]

( **Demyx Nocturne** , **Luxord Gamblette** , and **358 others** like this)

* * *

We all end up completely out of breath and sweaty as hell (minus Tidus and Sora, those fuckers) when we reach the pick-up area of the airport. Kairi's parents are standing there with those obviously forced smiles of theirs as they gauge their daughter's weird companions. They're mostly looking at Sora and Riku though, who are still awkwardly tied to one another. "Oh, Kairi! We're glad that you brought your… friends!"

"Yeah, I figured that a big welcoming party would be best," she pants, still breathing heavily as she rests her hands on her knees. After a few seconds, she turns to stare at Sora still perched atop his silver-haired best friend, and with a roll of her eyes, she pulls at the rope, causing the brunet to tumble clumsily to the concrete below.

"Kairi, _ow_!"

"God bless, Kai. I owe you one."

"What are we doing here anyway?" Selphie asks, red-faced and looking easily irritable. It's clear that she's hoping that we didn't run halfway across Twilight Town for just _any_ dumb reason. Especially with Pence seemingly passed out next to Sora on the ground.

Kairi shoots her friend an apologetic smile, "My parents just told me like two hours ago that my cousin is coming to live with us—a pretty hardcore end-of-summer surprise, if you ask me. Anyway, I haven't seen her since I was a toddler, but I remember us being really close. I just thought it would be cool if you all came to meet her so that she wouldn't feel lonely or anything. Moving to a whole 'nother world is scary enough, but not knowing anyone would make it so much worse, don't you think?"

Typical Kairi. What a good kid.

The sliding glass doors open as it seems that people have finished getting their luggage and are proceeding to hail cabs or get on buses and the like. It doesn't seem like anyone is carrying any massive bags, so despite their incredibly haggard expressions, I can only assume that this incoming flight isn't from too far away. Kairi and her parents are standing at the head of our little group, closest to the doors, as they search in anticipation for their visitor. The rest of us stand behind them in a jumbled disarray of sweat and stink, doing whatever we can to try and make ourselves look presentable. Good impressions and all, you know?

When the crowd has thinned, there's a collective gasp from the Soto family as they run forward to hug a young woman with long blonde hair and wide blue eyes. She's wearing a large gray hoodie and a pair of denim shorts with seafoam sandals on her feet and a single matching backpack at her side. Like all the other travelers we saw, she looks super tired. However, while the others had all appeared to be families sticking closely together, it seems as though she's come to Twilight Town by herself. She's holding what seems to be a sketchpad in her hands, and when the Sotos finally let go of her, she opens the book to pull out what looks to be one of those toy wayfinders that were popular when we were younger. When Kairi sees it, her expression lights up, and she engulfs her cousin in yet another hug.

Not knowing what else to do, the nine of us are just smiling at the touching reunion and trying to stay out of everyone else's way. Then Kairi takes her cousin by the hand and guides her over to the rest of us. There's a hesitant smile on the blonde's face and I instantly feel bad because the large number of us is probably wracking her nerves more than actually soothing them. "Guys! This is my cousin, Naminé Soto. Nams, this is Riku, Sora, Pence, Hayner, Selphie, Xion, Tidus, Olette, and Roxas. Don't worry about remembering all their names for now, you'll get eased into it!"

We erupt into a collective cheer of greeting, doing our best to look friendly and as non-intimidating as possible. Kairi beams at this and quickly gestures that we all form a group hug, which we do without question. Naminé looks taken aback by something—probably still shocked by the new lifestyle she's about to enter—and once the hug is over, we proceed to do whatever we can to be helpful. Which basically means fighting over who gets to carry Naminé's single bag.

I'm about to join the fray as well, until Naminé stops me with a hand to my forearm. I turn to her in surprise, and said surprise only intensifies when she looks so confused that she might cry. "Y-You're here. You're here, you're _safe_."

What?

She pulls me into a hug quickly and I'm so dumbfounded that I don't even hug her back which makes me look like a total asshole. Great.

Probably noticing my lack of reaction, she pulls back to look at me with curious blue eyes. "Do you… not remember?"

"Uh…" Xion, Riku, and Olette seem to notice my plight, but it's obvious that they're not too sure how to help. My brunette friend nudges Pence, whispers something in his ear, and the poor guy shoots me a look of pity—and something else that suddenly reminds me of a good way to cover up my situation. "Oh, maybe you're thinking of Ventus Kleuh. I hear that we look a lot alike."

"Ven...tus?" There's a faint flicker of recognition that lights up in her eyes as she nods slowly. She ultimately looks unconvinced, but when she parts her lips once more to question me, it's as though she's suddenly apprehensive about asking me any further questions. "O-Oh. Maybe."

I really don't know what else to do here—I'm almost positive that I wouldn't forget meeting Kairi's cousin, mostly because Sora would be trying to set the two of us up so that he could use a double date as some version of his plan to get himself and Kairi together. So unless Sora had forgotten too, there was _no way_ I had met this chick before. Yeah, I'm about positive now.

"Are you guys excited for your senior year of high school?" Kairi's mother asks.

There's a chorus of affirmative responses, but Naminé remains silent.

And I can't stop staring at her because if we _have_ met and I simply forgot, then I would feel absolutely awful. She's pushed up the sleeves of her sweater to reveal smudged ink of various colors. I can't really tell if it's supposed to be a picture of if it's supposed to be a kaleidoscope of words, but there's something about it—about her—that just leaves me insanely curious.

 _Naminé Soto_.

"Hey, Rox? Did you hear me?"

I shake my head no to Sora's question.

"Well, we're not all going to fit in the Soto's car, so you and I are amongst the group that'll have to take the bus. Hayner's saying that we should get some nachos or something before we all catch some sleep. Can we go? It'll be fun!"

Naminé looks up and meets my gaze.

"Yeah. Let's."

* * *

 **a/n** : So what do you guys think? I'm trying to keep a pretty even balance of comedy and drama, but this chapter is predominantly the former. Hopefully you guys catch the air of mystery surrounding Nami though—the stuff that goes on with her is going to be the main dramatic element of the story.

I was originally going to write this revamp of _Nonexistent_ as third-person omniscient, but when I started typing up this chapter, I realized that it just wouldn't be the same story unless it was told with Roxas' voice. He's still the pushover that gets annoyed by everyone's shit though, so that hasn't really changed, haha

I'm definitely looking forward to some feedback for this chapter! The content and style of the story is subject to change based on what you guys tell me you like and don't like. c: (Special shoutout to **Kuroiikawa** for being my first reviewer!)

Please let me know what you think about the length of this chapter! For my snk fic, each installation is at least 6k+, so I tried to go for something similar here. Of course, this is a completely separate audience, so if you guys are interested in something shorter (or longer) please let me know. c:

My birthday is coming up on the sixth of July so I'll be a bit busy and I'm not too sure when the next update for this will come around. Still, I hope that you all enjoyed reading and joining me back here again when chapter three comes out! c:


	3. Chapter 3

What I probably hate most about school is that first day when it actually _starts_ ; when you wake up one morning, way too suddenly, because your twin brother is screaming about having woken up late and all of the lights in your house are on as your mom struggles to help move things along in a more calm manner and there's just so much _noise_.

Ignore everything I said before about being a morning person. I hate mornings.

"Roxas, sweetheart," my mom beckons from the side of my bed. "Come on, darling, it's time to get ready for school."

I don't like saying no to my mom because she's probably the sweetest person in the entire world and all the shit that's happened to her didn't deserve to happen to her. So instead of mumbling obscenities that I typically reserve for Sora this early in the morning, I decide to turn away from her and simply pretend that I didn't hear what she was saying.

There's a pause before I hear her leave the room and I have no idea how my dumb plan worked but wow, _it did_ and—

Suddenly there's a bucket of ice cold water that's been dumped onto my bed and I can't stop the shocked scream from ripping through my throat.

I'm definitely up now.

My mom's just smiling up at me sweetly, not looking her age in the slightest. She's wearing a light blue nightdress with her hair in a messy braid and an empty bucket still held tightly in her arms. "Good morning, sweetie!"

I shudder.

"Morning, Mom…"

* * *

 **n** _ **o**_ n _e_ **x** **i** _s_ _ **t**_ **e** _n_ **t**

* * *

"Are we meeting up with anyone today?" I mumble to my brother as I douse my waffle in more syrup and grab for the jug of milk at the center of the table.

My brother—infinitely more energetic than I'll ever be—is happily stuffing his seconds into his mouth and spraying me with partially-chewed bits of food as he speaks. It bothers me a little more than it should, but that's probably only because my mood is a sour one—it's really just his typical personality. "Yeah, pretty sure we're meeting up with Kai and her cousin. Everyone else is either already up, hitching a ride with Riku, or on the Freshman Welcoming Committee."

There's a strong scent of citrus applewood coming from my left and now it finally makes sense why. _Of course_ Sora's drowned himself in cologne. _Kairi_ 's coming with us.

"You better buy them breakfast," our mom calls from the kitchen. "It would be rude if you didn't."

I stare down at the waffle mutilated by my fork and frown. If we were going to buy food, then what was the point of us even eating in the first place? It wasn't very time efficient.

Sora stands up beside me and I realized that wow, the guy's already finished his third waffle. What the hell? "I think they've already had breakfast, Mom. Kairi only knows how to make pancakes and I'm sure she's been trying to impress Naminé."

Mom laughs because we've all known Kairi long enough to know that she's the biggest tryhard that the world has ever known.

"Roxas, hurry _up_ ," my brother whines, impatiently turning his attention between myself and the clock. "We still have to pick up our schedules and talk to the others!"

"This wouldn't have been a problem if you'd agreed to come with me last week to pick them up from the school," I mumble, stuffing the last piece of my breakfast into my mouth and taking a few large gulps to finish up my milk.

My brother rolls his eyes, "I'm not the one who has an irrational fear of Uncle Cid."

I tense up immediately and my mom intervenes before I chuck my syrup-covered plate at my brother's head. "It's not irrational and you know it! I could have _drowned_!"

"We all know that Cid wouldn't have actually let you _drown_ ," Mom butts in, my plate and glass in hand as she makes her way to the sink to start washing dishes. "You need to learn how to let things go, sweetheart."

I gape at her as Sora cackles from the doorway. Like, wow, way to take sides.

"And anyway, you're the one who's slowing us down. Kairi already texted me and they're already waiting for us!"

My mother frowns at me and my levels of done are off the charts. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming," I mumble, opting for a stick of gum rather than brushing my teeth because Sora probably has breath spray in his backpack somewhere—knowing him. My dearest brother's ready to go and is holding up my bag with his forefinger, lightly swaying it back and forth. I shrug it on, grab my skateboard from its position by his feet, and open the door.

"Let me know if I have to throw a suburban mom fit because of any awful classes you two get stuck in!" my mom calls as the door begins to close.

It's going to be a long year.

* * *

It'll always strike me as odd that Sora still gets super nervous whenever he's going to see Kairi despite the fact that we've known her ever since we first moved to Twilight Town. However, I guess it's just a trait of his that's remained constant, so I can't really complain.

Sometimes though, I can't help but kind of wish he would get over himself, but oh well.

"Kairi!"

"Sora!"

The red-haired beauty flings herself at my brother, who stumbles off of his skateboard in order to catch her and spin her around in a few circles as they both laugh. If anyone didn't know them—though thankfully, Twilight Town is small enough for most people to recognize one another—they'd probably assume that they were long-lost lovers that had finally reunited. Of course, that's not the case at all since my poor brother is still convinced that any move he makes on Kairi is sure to ruin their close friendship.

A few feet away, Naminé's fingering the strap of her gray bookbag and looking everywhere but at the three of us. I instantly feel kind of bad since it could be very possibly be _my_ fault for making her feel so out of place after our strange conversation yesterday. Not knowing what else to do anyway (since interrupting Sora and Kairi now would result in my brother whining about how I'm such a cockblock), I step on the very end of my board so that it flips upwards and I can tuck it under my arm as I walk over to her.

"Morning."

A part of me had expected her to jump at my sudden advance since she seemed to have completely zoned out, but to my faint surprise, she mumbles a soft, "Good morning."

I'm not good at conversations or making friends—in all honesty, that was more of Sora's thing and the two of us are a package deal —so the fact that Naminé's still unable to meet my gaze makes it all the more awkward. I figure what I said next was an attempt at me trying to keep things casual by saying something that I'd say to Hayner or Xion, but I'm pretty sure it just made me look like an insensitive douche, so brace yourselves.

"Hey, does my breath smell like waffles and syrup? Because I totally didn't brush my teeth this morning and I don't think the gum is really hiding anything."

Okay, so maybe that's not really douchey material, but I look like a rude ass anyway and continue my run of making awful impressions on strangers.

At the very least though, the words are enough to get Naminé to finally meet my stare; her brows are drawn together slightly in confusion at the absurd bluntness of my statement and her lips are parted slightly since it's clear that she feels like she's obligated to at least say _something_ in response but isn't quite sure what the something is.

I'm just casually smooth as hell—you know how it is.

"Uh," she fidgets uncomfortably, "I didn't notice anything, but to be frank, I wasn't really paying attention to you or your breath."

Oh.

Whelp.

The feeling of wanting Sora to step in and save me from the horrors of my nonexistent social skills was pretty strong before, but now it's grown so strong that I'm genuinely thinking about screaming my own name and throwing myself between the two lovebirds to save myself from this conversation.

Of course, I'm a lot of things, but a cockblock is _definitely_ not one of them.

So I tough it up by forcing a laugh and scratching the back of my neck nervously—my signal to Sora that I'm fucking up something that I probably shouldn't be fucking up and that he should probably help me. "I guess that's fair. Sora and Kairi are totally stealing the show, huh?"

I already know that she hadn't been paying attention to them either, but I had kind of assumed that she would sense the slight relief that the subject change would bring and go along with it.

"No one's really stealing any show," she states nonchalantly and I really, _really_ don't know what to say to that. "I think I'm more interested in the sidewalk than I am in whatever's going on with them."

I begin to scratch myself with more intensity, not even caring if anyone thinks that I have fleas.

"What, you don't have those in wherever you're from?"

"No," she replies without wasting a beat, "No, we don't."

Sora's thankfully caught on to the growing red mark on the back of my neck, and drags Kairi towards the two of us, his arm still slung comfortably around her shoulders. "Off to the hellhole we go!" he cheers, raising a single fist up in the air in mock excitement.

Kairi—who seems to be completely unaware of the nature of the conversation that had just taken place—laughs lightheartedly at my brother's exclamation, even nudging her cousin to laugh too. Sora's still grinning from ear to ear, but I can see the pools of curiosity gathering in his eyes as he looks at me.

"Our school's pretty awful, Nams, but the people are nice. I'm sure that you'll love it!"

Naminé only hums in a vague response and when we resume our walk to school, I make sure to stand as far away from her and as close to my brother as possible.

* * *

"You're such a dork," Sora mutters when we get to school and the rest of the group is busy trying to socialize with the blonde newcomer. "What exactly happened back there?"

The two of us split off from the others since we still had to pick up our schedules. Kairi had insisted that we take Naminé along with us since she had been registered officially last night after her father—the mayor—had pulled some strings, but Riku and Pence had written it off by saying that they would be able to take care of it for her later. I wasn't really sure why they couldn't take care of it for Sora and I as well, who they had known _longer_ , but calling them out on it would probably stir more drama than I was up for this early in the morning.

We come to the stop at the end of a ridiculously long line and I can do nothing but rake a hand through my hair in exasperation. "The worst conversation that I've ever been a part of in my entire life, that's what."

My brother crinkles his nose in distaste at my attitude before responding, "I think that you're attributing _way_ too much weight onto this. Naminé seems pretty chill, so she probably didn't think it was as bad as you're making it out to be."

"Sora, we talked about sidewalks," I deadpan.

His eyes narrow in scrutiny at me. "Bro, what the _hell_?"

I put my hands up in a lame attempt of defense. "To be fair, _she_ 's the one who brought that subject up. I was trying to make fun of you and Kairi but she wouldn't take part of it."

He snorts, "Wow, I like her better than you already."

"Too bad: you're already stuck to my side and I refuse to let you go."

My brother throws his head back in a warm laugh at this and throws an arm around my shoulder. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me in my entire life. I wish I recorded it so that someone could play it at my funeral—that's all I really need, to be honest. That and the Tetris theme song to play as they lower my casket into the ground."

I throw a punch at his shoulder which only makes the two of us laugh harder.

Twilight Town Prep is set up like a classist institution that prides itself in over-testing and over-grouping its students until people start dropping their fifteen pound textbooks on their feet "on accident" so that they can be excused for a few days with a broken foot. We're sorted into three different levels based on how much we invest in our schoolwork, meaning our grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteering hours. Class A gets put in the most difficult classes and receives the most perks, but it's the most exclusive of the group, allowing only thirty people per year. The standards lower after that, but everyone knows that Class A houses the most elite of us all. As far as I'm concerned though, they're nothing more than Principal Ansem's playthings—I wouldn't be surprised if the guy assembled them all one day and revealed that he was training them to take over the government or something.

I don't really have anything personal against the kids there though—well, most of them anyway. Class A's most notable members would be Riku, Olette, Pence, and the Kleuh brothers, Ventus and Vanitas.

Sora, Kairi, Xion, and I are members of Class B, while Hayner, Selphie, and Tidus are in Class C. Not sure if any of that has changed, but I kind of always assume that we're stuck in wherever we're first placed though since Principal Ansem's probably too lazy to re-analyze us all for reclassification.

That's perfectly fine with me though—sure, the Class A kids get a probably awesome recommendation to put on their resumes from the distinguished Ansem the Wise himself, but they also have to submit a new thesis paper at the end of every semester, and I'm definitely _not_ interested in something like that.

So when Sora and I finally reach the front of the line and each receive pieces of fancy parchment instead of the typical white sheet of printer paper, we both feel like fainting.

"There has to be some kind of mistake," Sora squeaks. "My brother and I didn't even _apply_ for reclassification last year, so we should be receiving the B schedule instead of this one. We're not cut out for Class A: trust me."

Before us sits the head of the math department, Squall Leonhart, and I kind of wish that it had been anyone other than him because I'm pretty sure that he holds some kind of grudge against my mom that he's been taking out on us throughout our last three years of high school.

"Sorry," he states with a rather bland tone. "I'm just the messenger here, so there's not much that I can do." Mr. Leonhart turns his head into his shoulder to cough into his sleeve. "Now, there's a line, so if you two would please—"

"I want to speak to Uncle Cid!" Sora yells as he crosses his arms with a glare. "There's _obviously_ some kind of mistake and—"

" _Mr. Highwind_ ," the teacher corrects, "Is currently busy with preparations for Principal Ansem's opening remarks."

"Then Uncle Zack! Or Cloud! Or Tifa!"

" _Mr. Fair_ , _Mr. Strife_ , and _Ms. Lockhart_ ," he grits through his teeth, "Are all also on preparation duty."

Sora looks like he's going to have a heart attack and I'm pretty sure that I'm right there with him.

"Mr. Leonhart, is there a problem here?"

The three of us turn to face the newcomer who unfortunately looks _way_ better in our school uniform than I do, which immediately makes me feel self-conscious. I feel Sora's shoulders tense up beside me and I'm glad that I'm at least not alone in my discomfort.

Ventus Kleuh stands before us himself, back straightened, dress shirt ironed, and dark gray cardigan pushed up to his elbows. He's not much taller than Sora and I, but it feels as though his presence towers over us because he's just that sort of person. A little bit behind him stands his brother, Vanitas, looking uninterested and bored with the matter at hand. Unlike his brother, he's opted for a short-sleeved dress shirt and a loosened tie around around his neck. His matching cardigan is being held casually over his shoulder with his hand in a way that accentuates his biceps.

Bright blue eyes that rival my own bore into Sora's features and I notice my brother tighten his hands into fists at his side. Vanitas suddenly has the threat of a smirk on his lips as he realizes just _who_ it is that had been causing the calculus teacher trouble. An amused glint lights itself within his eyes as he rests his arm on his brother's shoulder and leans forward. "Oh, relax a bit, brother. We should hear them out, you know?"

Ventus shoots a glare towards his brother before redirecting his attention back to the situation at hand. "If there's been a problem with the schedules, Principal Ansem requested that they all be redirected to my brother and I for the time being since he's busy preparing his morning address."

"Okay, _fine_ ," Sora manages. "Roxas and I didn't request for a class reevaluation, so there must have been some kind of mistake. Neither of us think we're ready for the rigorous coursework and frankly, we don't _want_ to be ready."

Mr. Leonhart, at this point, has been completely ruled out of the conversation as Sora and I struggle to maintain glares that are intense enough to rival those of the Kleuh brothers.

Vanitas is chuckling at my brother's attempt at intimidation before stepping in front of his slightly smaller sibling. "Wow, for _one time_ in your lives, something awful happens that neither of you have control over! How _terrible_! It's not like it doesn't happen to other people, it's not like you guys are _special exceptions_ or anything—!"

"Van," the blond warns.

The brunet shrugs off the concern as though it's nothing as he continues. "Man the fuck up and deal with it. You should be honored to be granted permission to join Class A, so stop whining, you pisspants, and rise up to face the challenge instead of complaining as though it'll actually fix anything."

My brother and I are both shocked and mildly offended at his words; requesting a schedule change really _shouldn't_ be this difficult.

Seeing our expressions, Ventus releases a breath of air that no one had realized he was holding and offers up a more civilized response to Sora's complaints. "You guys didn't send in request forms but someone recommended you both as eligible candidates for reevaluation and you were accepted. Principal Ansem believes that your full potential isn't being met and that the two of you need to be forced into a situation in which such potential will be unlocked. Schedule changes for this matter will not be granted."

It's not the answer that either of us wanted to hear, but it's a lot nicer than the answer we had gotten from Vanitas.

"Wait a moment," Mr. Leonhart says carefully. "That's a lot of information for the principal to be sharing with a pair of students, even if they _are_ at the top of the class."

"T-Top of the class?" Sora stutters. "No, that's not right. Riku's at the top of the academic boards and Olette was right behind him—"

"Scores change," Vanitas offers with a derisive shrug. "Oh well."

Ventus' expression has maintained its flat nonchalance as he responds in answer to the teacher's curiosity. "Class A receives special privileges at this school."

It looks as though Mr. Leonhart is going to say something else, but he ultimately chooses to say nothing. Seeing as the situation seems to have resolved itself, the older sibling offers a simple nod as means of farewell before turning on his heel and walking off to assist elsewhere. His younger brother trails not too far behind him, golden eyes no longer narrowed in a glare and returning to their default expression of indifference. Ventus smiles at the other students as he passes by them, acting as though our tense exchange hadn't even happened.

I'm really not sure what I should be doing now, but Sora's looking so dazed that I figure it's my turn to step up as the supportive sibling.

"Hey, let's go back to the others?"

Sora's so lost in his own thoughts that he can only offer me a lame grunt in response.

* * *

 **Roxas Hikari** is apparently now an A-class nerd against his will? I literally only have one elective? Someone send help?

[image currently not available]

[reformat?]

[ **yes** | no ]

[ **o o o** ]

 **Roxas James Hikari** | **Fourth Year Student** | **Class A** | Semester 1 | Semester 2 | **Full-Year**

Period 1 - **AP Physics C** [Cid Highwind]

Period 2 - **Guitar Orchestra** [Cloud Strife]

Period 3 - **AP Art History** [Tifa Lockhart]

Period 4 - **AP Calculus BC** [Squall Leonhart]

Period 5 - **AP English Literature** [Genesis Rhapsodos]

Period 6 - **AP Government/AP Macroeconomics/AP Microeconomics** [Reno Turk | Rude Turk]

Period 7 - **AP Environmental Science** [Yuffie Kisaragi]

* * *

"You're _kidding_ me!"

"I really wish that I was," Sora groans in response. "I could barely keep up when I was in B class! How the _hell_ am I going to survive this school year without offering up my body as a virgin sacrifice?"

The others are in just as much shock as we are—more in regards to Sora than me, I think. Olette's more furious about something else though.

"Okay, but real talk: how in the _world_ did the Kleuh twins overtake Riku and I's ranks? I know that they were right behind us, but neither of us were informed? I spent _a week_ on my address for this morning!"

I could definitely understand her pain, but in all honesty, it couldn't overshadow the current pain I was experiencing over myself. Riku had apparently received a text from Ventus while we were gone informing him of the change in rankings and had proceeded to disappear to "get Naminé's schedule for her," so I'm not too sure how he's taking the news—doubt he's faring much better than Olette though since he's been at the top of our class since we were freshmen.

Pence, as head of the Freshman Welcoming Committee, is nowhere to be seen, but I'm sure he wasn't going to be happy that Ventus and Vanitas had moved up while he remained in the same spot despite all of his hard work.

Everything's just really a mess.

"I don't get it," Naminé starts carefully. "The two of them only moved here last year, right? So how did they—"

Kairi angrily shrugs her cousin's question away with a glare directed to no one in particular and a lewd gesture at what seems to be directed at the air. At first I had wondered why _she_ was all fired up, but then I remember that it's because she had applied for a class change and probably didn't get accepted. It also probably has to do with the fact that she's losing her partner-in-crime, but I'm not one to make assumptions.

"Xi," I call. The petite girl turns to me with an expression of faint displeasure on her features. "We have to at least have _some_ classes together, right?"

There's a frown on her features at having to be stuck with only Kairi for company in Class B—the two aren't really the closest of friends—and she shrugs off her bag in order to rummage around in the front pocket for her schedule. "I'm pretty sure that if we don't, I'll just skip to all of your classes so that I'll be able to throw paper airplanes at you whenever I get bored." I force a laugh so that things don't seem so somber as she reads through the list. "Okay, looks like we have periods five through seven together. That's not as bad as I thought it would be then. I'm pretty sure that we share period seven with Class C as well."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Okay, so even though I'm going to fail out of high school, at least I'll have my friends by my side!"

She laughs at this before giving me a light punch. "You'll have to face the Kleuh twins all by yourself though!"

"Pretty sure that Riku is as pissed off at them as we are. I can't believe that he tried talking us into letting them join our friend group last year."

"Oh, you're too harsh on them," she chastises. "They may be pretentious as fuck, but I'm sure that they're not _that_ bad. You've had what? One actual conversation with them? First impressions aren't always promising."

My jaw drops comically as I realize that my best friend is siding with the enemy. "Xi, they're _horrible_ people! You should've seen how they treated Sora and I this morning!"

Xion can't do much other than offer a mild shrug. "I'll admit that it's creepy as hell how alike you and Sora are to the two of them, but beyond that, I think that your grudge against them doesn't have much of a basis."

" _The student assembly will be starting in ten minutes. All students, please begin seating yourselves in the auditorium._ "

Almost as a reflex, the entire student body throws their head back in a unified groan before everyone starts their tired stumble towards the school's center building.

"I don't know how to really explain it," I admit in response to Xion's allegations. "But Sora says he feels it too. It's like this really uncomfortable feeling whenever we're around them. They make me feel like I'm under a microscope or something."

My admission seems to interest her a lot more than I thought it would as she raises her eyebrows in curiosity. "Huh," she hums, "I wonder if it's just because of how similar you guys look to one another. Maybe they feel the same way and this is all because you're each comparing yourself to the other? I'd imagine it to be a pretty standard response given your uncanny similarities."

"Great, now I feel like those case studies you look at in your free time," I grimace. Xion's always had this super intense interest in psychology and sometimes it's interesting but other times the random facts she knows creep me out.

She doesn't do much in response other than offer me a light chuckle. It's silent for a few moments before she crinkles her nose and turns to her left—because my life is just full of bad luck—to ask Naminé a question. "Hey, do you smell something kind of breakfast-y? Like maple syrup or something?"

"It's Roxas," the blonde responds casually. "He didn't brush his teeth this morning."

Xion's suddenly roaring with laughter and repeating it loud enough for the entire group to hear much to my mortification. I feel my face flush a bright shade of red and can't help but shoot Naminé an icy glare.

At first, she doesn't really react. In fact, all she does is stare back at me blankly. But when Sora screeches something about "fighting the horrors of tongue germs" and tries to pry my mouth open with his hands in order to spray some mint to mask my bad breath instead of just _asking_ me, I see her lips twitch upwards.

And well, I guess it's a start.

* * *

The only perks that seniors get at Twilight Town Prep is that we're allowed to pick up our schedules earlier than everyone else and that we get front seats for all school functions.

The biggest disadvantage to being senior at Twilight Town Prep is being stuck in the front seats during assemblies though, because it means that you can't text without attracting attention to yourself.

It's an eternal struggle.

My group ends up seated in the second row of the auditorium and I'm sandwiched between Sora and Naminé because Xion had agreed with my brother about me needing to get over the awkwardness I had this morning with my fellow blonde and had opted for taking the seat next to her.

Principal Ansem's up on the stage with the faculty advisors seated to the right of his podium in neat rows. Ventus, Vanitas, and Pence are seated to his left. We essentially hear the same speech from our principal every year and as the chair of the Freshmen Welcoming Committee, there isn't much that Pence can add to make his speech more unique. The only real variety we get is that of the top two ranked individuals.

I can't help but stop paying attention to Pence's words to look over at Naminé, just because I remember her reacting to my mention of his name the other day. I had kind of figured that she would be showing some kind of reaction to actually seeing him and Vanitas up there for herself, but if she had reacted at all, I had already missed it. Instead, her eyes are glazed over in mild boredom and she looks as though she may fall asleep at any moment.

"Without further ado, I'd like to introduce the top of the senior class, Ventus Kleuh."

The crowd roars in cheers but I have to stop myself from booing. I have to admit that Ven's a pretty popular guy for being a relatively new student, but to be fair, our school's a pretty small one. He stands up with a calm smile on his face before replacing Pence at the podium.

"Good morning, students of Twilight Town Prep. My brother and I could still be considered newcomers around here, but you may recognize us as volunteers at the local orphanage or baristas at the Starbucks down the street. We're unbelievably lucky to be gifted with such an honorable title so early on and we couldn't feel more humbled before you all." It kind of sounds like he's giving an award speech at this point and I can feel myself getting irked.

No one expected Vanitas to stand up in the middle of his brother's speech—not even Ventus himself, it seems—but it's not long before the taller boy has stepped behind the podium as well and leaned in to speak into his brother's mic. "However, as many of you may know, the academic rankings are prone to sudden shifts over the summer as new test scores are filed in. Vanitas and I—though we are incredibly honored to stand before you today—were only announced as the new first and second ranks this very morning and the two who held the position previously were told only minutes ago that they wouldn't be able to present their introductory speeches to you."

It looks as though Ventus has lost the easygoing demeanor that he had been displaying at the beginning of the speech and he suddenly looks a lot paler than he usually does as his eyes shift between his brother, the assembled students, and the members of the staff warily. His idle hand crosses over to tap on his inner forearm in what seems to be a casual movement, but the way he does it before shooting a pointed look at his brother tells me otherwise—it's not an old habit, it's a _signal_ for something.

Whatever he's trying to tell Vanitas though is completely ignored as the younger boy continues to speak. "So my brother and I are proud to welcome Riku Takama and Olette Hart to the stage for introductory presentations."

There's a small wave of shock that resonates throughout the room because this is something that's never been done before as far as anyone can remember. Though Riku and Olette had been upset earlier about the sudden change in rank, it's not like it's something that hadn't occurred in previous years. The difference was that the previous years' replacements hadn't hesitated in taking the newfound glory for themselves while Vanitas (I wasn't so sure about Ventus) didn't seem to want any part of it.

Seeing that no one's yet to move—not even Riku and Olette themselves—Vanitas glares at the mass of students before him, shoots his brother a raised brow, and begins clapping himself.

It's an odd scene, really: two twins standing behind a podium meant for only individual use, one looking as though he wanted to die right where he stood and sheepishly offering a strained smile to who-knows-who, and the other clapping obnoxiously loud by himself and glaring at everything in sight.

Vanitas' claps are soon joined by none other than Naminé, who's thrown into such a fit of laughter that her face has turned red. She joins in with his motions and I suppose only one person's actions were required, because it's quickly joined by the rest of the student body.

I'm not exactly sure why she's laughing and I feel like I'm supposed to feel like it's some sort of improvement to the standoffish nature she was boasting before, but in my opinion, it just seems weird. _Naminé_ just seems weird.

I'm not good with weird.

Riku and Olette finally reach the stage, shake hands with both Vanitas and a seemingly disoriented Ventus, and then proceed to deliver each of their speeches.

* * *

I get that Vanitas had probably won some brownie points for him and his brother, but I still thought it was super weird when the Kleuh twins accompanied Pence, Riku, and Olette back to our group before the first bell of the school year rang.

"Hey, don't get too comfortable in your positions, you two. I didn't try before but I can assure you that I won't need to in order to whoop your asses back to where they belong."

Vanitas actually chuckles at Riku's words and seems as though he's about to put his arm around his shoulder but reconsiders such an action at the last minute. "Not unless I bump _all_ of you out of the top positions," Pence adds in, making Riku laugh and slings his arms around the shoulders of both boys.

I want to cringe.

"You did a great job up there, Riku!" Tidus grins, "What a stud. You're such a natural."

"'Lette, I _told you_ that there was no point in getting so worked up about the speech! I find that most things just happen to work themselves out, you know?" Hayner says with a smirk.

Sora's visibly uncomfortable with the presence of the Kleuh brothers and, catching onto this, Kairi tugs at the hem of his dress shirt worriedly. He doesn't offer much of a response to her insistences and instead raises his gaze to meet mine. Assuming that it's something that he just doesn't want to talk about at the moment and that pressing would only make it worse, the auburn-haired girl, turns her attention to the newcomers.

"Nice speeches, _buttheads_ ," she shoots childishly, making Riku snort at her mockingly. "But did you even remember to pick up Naminé's schedule like you said you would?"

Pence and Riku's expressions immediately transition into apologetic grins.

"No worries," a voice casually interjects. "I've got it right here."

Ventus is holding up a piece of infamous parchment between two of his fingers and it's not long before Vanitas has joined his brother's side once more to shoot a teasing smile at the rest of us.

Kairi's obviously taken aback by the action and isn't sure how to properly respond as she knows the awkward relationship Sora and I have with the other set of twins before us. Naminé, however, walks up to them rather calmly and takes the paper without a shred of hesitation.

"You haven't changed, Van. I'm pretty sure that if you hadn't been in front of the entire student body, Ventus would've punched you in the gut again."

The golden-eyed boy actually lights up at her words. "So you _do_ remember!"

He receives a harsh jab to the stomach from his older brother.

There are a lot of questions floating within the air that I imagine we all want answers to, but our opportunity is cut off by the sharp staccato of the ringing school bell.

* * *

 **a/n:** so this is admittedly a little shorter than the previous chapter, but to be fair, it was written in one sitting during a sudden burst of inspiration when i saw the new reviews that were added to this story. i think that i speak for every author when i say that feedback really does serve as great inspiration, so thanks to **Kuroiikawa** , **anon** , **Guest** , **Sookdeo** , and **t0fura**! your comments mean the world to me and i can't thank everyone in general for the support i get from you guys. c:

readers of the old version of _nonexistent_ will probably notice a big change in the original storyline and a bit of a jump. in my original run, the first day of school doesn't actually occur until the fifth chapter, but like i said at the beginning of this project, i'm trying to cut out some of the unnecessary fluff this time around. this is just an example of what i meant by that, if any of you old readers are curious, haha

also created a new cover image for the story, so that's fun, lol

not as much humor this time around since this chapter focused more on developing the exposition of the story, but hopefully it was still enjoyable! please let me all know what you think; i'm definitely looking forward to your reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Unfortunately, no."

"How the _hell_ did you two even manage to get in here?"

"Beats me."

Uncle Cid alternates between looking at us and looking at the matching schedules he's crumpling within his tight grip before ultimately looking like he's ready to throw himself out the window. "You know what, I'm just going to pretend like this isn't a nightmare that's been set in motion and that Ansem is just pulling some elaborately sick joke." Not knowing what else to do, Sora offers an awkward laugh and I try to make myself look as unassuming as possible by hiding behind my brother's back. "Sit wherever you want; my only rule is that no twins sit next to each other so that I don't mix up any fucking names—though, in this case, I guess that also means no sitting next to the Kleuh brothers either."

In all honesty, that's kind of a small blessing in disguise but I choose not to remark on it in fear of pissing off my new physics teacher even more and scurry off into the open seat next to Olette just before Pence can take it. My friend looks a bit annoyed by my thievery, but I shoot him a cheeky grin that's hopefully enough to make him forget about my offense.

Sora slides in beside Riku just as Uncle Cid flicks his lighter on and brings a fresh cigarette to the flames and allows a string of curses to escape into the air.

* * *

n o n e x i s t e n t

* * *

Apparently the Class A schedule is set up so that there's a single uniform seating arrangement in all the Class A exclusive classes—hearing that just makes me feel even worse for taking Pence's spot, especially since he ended up in the seat next to Vanitas. The latter had seemed kind of annoyed about this as well, since it was kind of obvious that he had been expecting Naminé to take the seat and she ended up next to his brother instead.

"You're staring," Olette states matter-of-factly, loud enough for only me to hear.

When I turn to her in surprise, she only offers me a roll of the eyes before pointing with her pencil to the front of the classroom where Cid's already covered the board in bold, black scribble. I squint at the writing and once I realize what it is, I feel like I'm going to faint.

" _It's the first day of school_ ," I hiss as I glare at the formulas written on the board. "Aren't we supposed to spend the day going over the class syllabus?"

The auburn-haired girl actually pauses in her note-taking (and I want to cringe because she's already at the bottom of the page) to stare at me with incredulity before she reminds herself that this is basically my first day in this kind of situation. She manages to stifle a laugh and shoots me an apologetic grin instead. "Sorry, Rox, it's my fault for not giving you a heads up beforehand."

Yeah, you think?

"Class syllabi were given to us at the end of last year so that we could properly arrange our extracurricular schedules around our academics. I'll give you a copy of mine for our classes tomorrow, but for now, just know that our summer research project is due on Wednesday and we have our first test next Monday—in Physics, at least."

I'm not even sure how to respond so I continue to just stare at her in shock. It's clear that Olette isn't really sure if she should take the time to assuage my panic or if she should go back to taking notes like a responsible student, so I do her a favor and turn my attention to Sora instead to see how my twin is faring.

It looks as though he's gone through a similar conversation with Riku and he's gaping at me with the same mortified expression that I imagine contorts my features.

Oh yeah, Mom's _definitely_ going to have to put up with a lot of teenage whining today.

* * *

As soon as the bell rings, Sora and I have this weird twin telepathy moment that tells us we have to pick up all of our things right away and dash towards the music hallway without pausing for any small talk with our new classmates.

Though Sora's second period elective is listed as "Sonatas for the Concert Pianist," we're both familiar enough with our music teachers to know that our second period is probably going to end up in the same classroom as it typically is.

That being said, as soon as we throw open the door to the cited room, Sora's already screaming for Cloud while I'm screaming for Zack and the students that are already in the room are staring at us wide-eyed for referring to our teachers with such casual disdain that I'd probably be embarrassed about if I weren't already feeling so overwhelmed.

"Good morning to you too," Cloud mutters before Sora throws himself onto the older man's lap. Sora's abandoned the uniform jacket our mom always insists for us to wear on at least the first day of school and loosened his tie as he lies on his back, unruly hair collecting the dust of the music room's floor. He's already launched into the story about our awful morning, complete with exaggerated gestures that include flailing legs and angry punching at the air.

"This is the most energy I've seen you have in ages," Zack admits with a light laugh as he stands up out of his chair and gestures for me to take the seat instead—probably to avoid the possible embarrassment that Cloud's currently experiencing courtesy of my brother. "Sora's looking chipper as ever though."

I roll my eyes before allowing my bag to fall to the floor as I slouch into the chair that Zack's offered me. "Energetic, yes, but chipper? Not so much." My hands bring themselves to cover my face as though blocking everything else out of my vision will be enough to make all of the stress go away.

It doesn't really work.

"Did you know that Sora and I were transferred into _Class A_ this morning?"

I don't see how Zack reacts, but his lack of a verbal response is enough to make me suddenly feel uncomfortable. I peek through my fingers to see him staring at me blankly and as soon as he realizes that I'm staring, he bursts into laughter. "Tell me that it's some kind of mistake! I can't imagine you guys being able to keep up with that kind of curriculum."

It's fairly obvious that his initial reaction is hiding something suspicious but I know better than to question him about it knowing that it'll only make things weird between us. So instead, I slide my focus onto my brother, who's still complaining like crazy about the atrocity that is the Kleuh brothers, and take in Cloud's suddenly pale features and his blank stare.

I want to tell myself that that's just how Cloud _always_ looks whenever Sora's telling him a story. I really do.

The bell rings to signify the start of class and Zack has this huge grin on his features as he playfully tells me that I need to get out of his "cool guy" chair and Cloud doesn't hesitate to pick Sora up off his lap and drop him onto the ground.

* * *

"Hey, Sora?"

My brother hums in response to his name, too focused on texting Kairi back to actually look at me. Usually this would annoy me, but this time around, there's this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that refuses to go away.

"Things are really weird today."

To my surprise, he actually stops mid-text to turn his attention to me. His blue eyes seem void of their familiar sensation of warmth for a second and I feel something inside my chest stop at the coldness of his neutral expression. Without finishing his message, he locks his phone and slides his hands into his pockets before turning his head to stare straight ahead at the hall ahead of us. Suddenly his features flash and fizz out, replacing the familiarity I've come to rely on with an expression of derisive malice in glaring golden eyes.

 _Now. Time. Ready. NowTimeReady. Nowtimereadynowtimereadynow'sthetimeareyouready_ —

"Why, brother, whatever do you mean?"

My body instantly becomes cold and I feel myself beginning to lose balance. There's this feeling of intense fear that's washed over me, that threatens something terrible if I don't stop everything right now.

So I do.

A firm grip seizes my arm and my vision re-focuses onto the individual in front of me. Sora's eyes are wide and his brows are furrowed together in concern and worry. His cell phone is still within his other hand, open to a text conversation.

 _Blue, blue, blue_.

"Yo, Rox, are you okay?"

The taste of bile consumes my senses and I find that I'm suddenly shaking. My vision's going black. And then a familiar voice and a smiling face and—"You're here"—and blue eyes, always blue eyes…

" _Roxas_!"

"Y-Yeah, sorry," I mumble, still feeling dazed and reeling in confusion.

Sora doesn't look particularly convinced by this and glances at his phone to check the time. "There are two minutes before we need to be in Art History. Do you want me to take you to the nurse?"

I shake my head slowly, grabbing onto my brother's arm for a makeshift sense of safety. "I'm good. Sudden headache, that's all."

"Sure it is," he says with a roll of the eyes, thankfully dropping the subject. "Let's get to class then. Just tell me about it later, alright?"

I offer him a low hum in agreement as he leads me to Tifa's classroom, acting as though me clinging to his arm for dear life is the most natural thing in the world because he knows that if he continues to act concerned I'll probably just get pissed off.

And I smile, because sometimes Sora can be really dumb, but when I need him, he's always there for me before I even realize that I need the help.

When we get there, the door is locked and we're both looking at it in confusion before Sora suddenly offers me an awkward laugh. "Uh, I think that the bell already rang when you were having your moment back there and I apparently didn't remember how to read the numbers on my phone. That would probably explain why the halls are so empty right now. _Whoops_."

I can only turn to stare at him with an expression of agonized blankness.

The two of us don't hesitate to start banging on the door and whining for our mother's friend to let us into her dumb art class, and it's not long before she does so with an annoyed glint in her eye and a forced smile on her features.

"You're late," she states. "You're late _and_ you're already calling my class dumb."

I'll admit that I'm basically scared of all of my mom's friends minus Cloud and Zack, so I feel my body turn stiff as Sora's eyes widen.

"On a scale of one to ten, how fucked are we?"

A beat of silence.

Tifa hits Sora on the top of his head so hard that I feel like I've lost all functioning in my brain through our vicarious twin connection.

* * *

"How do you guys manage to be late to class _on the first day_?" Olette asks with a raised brow. "I can understand the freshmen, but you guys too? Really?"

Sora looks at me and I don't have to pretend to worry about him mentioning my weird spell back there. We both shrug at the shorter friend between us as she only rolls her eyes.

"I worry for you two sometimes, you know?"

We mumble some offhand term in response before Sora chooses to change the subject. "You know, we're headed off to another year of calculus and I didn't even pass _the first year_. Like, I'm pretty sure Principal Ansem changed our schedules like this because he wants to kill us."

Olette laughs a little at this. "BC is a lot easier than AB, I promise. And if you ever need help, I'm always available for tutoring for only five-hundred munny an hour!"

My brother's nose scrunches up in disgust. "Geez, Olette, you can't just help me for free out of the kindness in your heart?"

"Kindness doesn't pay the bills, sweetie," she retorts easily with a playful wink.

Sora groans. "I can't even get a friends and family discount?"

"Nah, it's every man for himself out there in the real world, Sora. Can't let anyone off easily."

Unsurprisingly, a high-pitched whine starts to escape my brother's throat and I join Olette's ringing laughter as the three of us enter the classroom. The bell's yet to ring, but Mr. Leonhart's nowhere in sight and the students of Class A seem to be content with sitting on the desktops and socializing with one another.

Hearing Sora's cries from the doorway, Riku turns away from his conversation with Ventus to shoot us a curious look. "It sounds like Sora's gotten his feelings hurt again."

Olette chuckles at this and gives my brother a resounding slap on the back. "Yeah, well, you know how sensitive the guy is."

Vanitas laughs at this—short, staccato barks of laughter—and is only shut up when Naminé shoots him an annoyed raise of the eyebrow at his sudden outburst.

"You have absolutely _zero_ chill, Vanitas."

"Yeah, well, I've _always_ had zero chill so nothing's really changed."

She rolls her eyes as he grins at her cheekily and I don't have to look at Sora or Olette to know that they're both curious as to what the relationship between the Kleuh brothers and Naminé really is. Riku, ever perceptive, quickly takes note of this and, as the official smooth talker of our group, brings up the subject cooly.

"Oh, you guys know each other? That's pretty cool."

"Childhood friends," Ventus explains quickly. It's clear that the response was meant to be casual and nonchalant, but it doesn't seem that way at all due to his quick response.

Realizing this, Vanitas' mood sours almost instantaneously as he shoots a glare towards his brother. It's ultimately Naminé that gives us a bit more information. "We grew up in the same city and our parents had known each other. I had heard that they had moved here, so when I was invited to live with my aunt and uncle, I was excited to see some old friends again."

The next question, of course, would be to ask where the trio even came from. Because Sora and I always become incapable of coherent conversation whenever a Kleuh is in the same room as us, it was up to Olette or Riku to find the appropriate words.

"That's awesome!" Olette smiles, and I can't help but wonder if she actually thinks that it's that great or if she's just simply become that good at faking her grins. "Where are you guys from originally?"

This time, it's Ventus' turn to glare at his brother. Both Vanitas and Naminé are easily able to retain a sense of nonchalance as the former mumbles an offhand, "It was a small, insignificant world—you guys probably wouldn't have heard of it." He slides his narrowed, golden eyes to meet my brother's before cocking his head mockingly. "Besides, I'd prefer if I could retain _some_ sense of my dignity and I'd argue that includes personal facts about my identity."

Naminé offers him a sharp jab in the ribcage to wipe the smile off his face as Ventus hastily apologizes. "Van gets a bit moody before he has some food. Don't pay him too much mind."

If they were trying to pretend like they _weren't_ hiding some kind of huge secret, then they were doing a pretty awful job of it—and it didn't take a genius to realize that. However, it was also obvious that pushing the matter too hard would only result in making the childhood trio even more uncomfortable, so Riku shot the rest of us a look that told us to drop it as he forced a humble chuckle. "Yeah, that doesn't really surprise me. Where do you take it Mr. Leonhart is?"

"I saw him in the hallway," Ventus responds, avoiding the gaze of his twin as he chooses to focus on Riku and Olette instead.

I've always had mixed feelings about Vanitas and I think that it's because of the fact that he's basically the satanic version of my brother. But seeing him interact with Naminé casts him in a different light: he turns his attention away from his brother in order to stare at her and his eyes look more like the shining sun instead of a dull amber; a faint smile tugs at the corners of his lips, threatening to consume his expression in its entirety but not brave enough to go that far; his posture loses some of its rigidity and he actually looks like a normal highschooler instead of an uptight, troublesome salutatorian.

A part of me wants to be able to look over at Naminé and be like, "Oh, she's totally into him" or "Oh, they're just very close friends" or even just a "She acts slightly different around him," but nothing comes to mind. I guess I just don't know her well enough. I look at her and all I can come up with is "She's such a liar."

And a piece of me tells me that I'm wrong, that it's just the wonky headache from earlier. Something warm washes over me and suddenly I want to take a nap.

" _Roxas?"_

The classroom door slams as Mr. Leonhart finally makes his entrance. It faintly registers to me that he looks tired—but maybe that's just me projecting?—and I take my seat.

When I look up, Ventus is staring at me with wide eyes.

* * *

" _Sora_! I feel like I haven't seen you in an eternity!"

"Tidus, you just saw me this morning. And since when did you get so attached?"

The blond huffs in response, crossing his arms in annoyance, "I've _always_ been attached to you. Maybe you just never notice me because you're too busy eyefucking Kairi—or Riku, now that I think about it…"

I throw my head back to laugh at the stupid comment as Sora angrily punches Tidus in the shoulder. Hayner slings an arm around my shoulder as though it's the most natural thing in the world and shoots me a cheesy smirk. "How was class today, Mr. Genius?"

I manage a small smile and jab him lightly with my elbow. "Is that even a real question? How do you _think_ it went?"

"Touche," he chuckles. Hayner crosses both his arms behind his head and leans back a little as he walks forward, managing to look like the most casual stoner I've ever met in my life. In front of us, Sora and Tidus are going back and forth with jubilant shouts directed at one another, Olette and Selphie are making some halfhearted small talk—they'd never been the closest of friends—and Riku, Naminé, Ventus, and Vanitas had stayed back after fourth period since they were apparently super slow when it came to packing up their stuff. I'm content with Hayner's silence though. He's always been a good friend of mine and the reassuring nature of his mere presence is what I really need right now.

I hadn't really been paying attention to what Hayner was doing, but apparently he was paying a lot of attention to me. It isn't until I feel the weight of his gaze on me that I finally turn to stare at him fully. His hazel eyes aren't examining me directly, but instead they maintain a fixed position on my features as Hayner faces straight ahead: silent, thorough observation.

As soon as he realizes that he's caught my attention, his eyes slide back to face forward as he casually says, "I figured that you were going to have an absolutely awful time in Class A, but I didn't think it would be _that_ bad."

Hayner knows me better than I'm willing to admit.

"Just feeling a bit sick, that's all. I have no idea where it came from."

He hums softly in response and that reaction alone is affirmation that he won't ask anymore questions. Instead, he decides to switch topic: "You know, we've been at this stupid school for four years and _still_ haven't gone to a Homecoming dance. A part of me feels like we're doing high school wrong."

"I feel like it's more of us doing a _romance_ thing wrong, man."

Hayner laughs at this, finally turning his head to grin at me directly. "Well, Roxas Hikari, if you don't hook up with anyone before then, consider this as me asking you to be my date."

I can't help but snort at the incredibly unromantic gesture and he flashes a wide, cocky grin at me. "I feel like _I_ should be the one saying that to you. Real talk: will Olette be taking _your_ last name or are _you_ going to be taking her's? I'm betting my money on the latter."

I don't even have to look at Hayner to know that his face has flushed a bright shade of red as he pushes me away from him. "W-Whoa! What are you talking about? Olette _definitely_ doesn't see me that way."

"I'm willing to bet three hundred money otherwise," Xion appears with a wink, eyes sliding over to the auburn-haired girl only steps in front of us. Our blond friend's eyes widen in a mixture of disbelief and horror before Pence tumbles in behind us and we're sent falling to the ground.

Kairi and Sora hover over our fallen forms with wide, innocent eyes, until Pence offers up a lame explanation after a beat of silence: "I guess you could say Hayner's _really_ fallen head over heels for Olette—he's even decided to go so far as to take us down with him."

We all burst into laughter that only increases in intensity when Olette realizes what's happened and bolts over to make sure that everyone's alright; Hayner looks like he's about to die of mortification.

* * *

 **Hayner Arden** wonders how the fuck he ended up with the slickest, most considerate friends who manage to never make a scene to embarrass him ever.  
( **Roxas Hikari** , **Pence Lawlet** , and **42 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : You can't have the "slickest, most considerate friends" unless one of those friends is a flaming hot redhead named Axel ohmygawdimonfire.  
( **Sora Hikari** , **Larxene Flash** , and **29 others** like this)

 **Roxas Hikari** : I thought you said that you didn't want to be friends with us anymore, Axel. Didn't you say something about how we're "fake as fuck"?  
( **Riku Takama** , **Kairi Soto** , and **34 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : Um… YEAH? As far as I'm concerned, Xion's the only decent one of you since Roxas has been tainted by Sora's pube shavings and Tidus' dyed hair. I'm /just saying/ that Hayner's statement was politically incorrect. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PASS HIGH SCHOOL AT THIS RATE, fucking dipshit  
( **Xion Soren** , **Demyx Nocturne** , and **72 others** like this)

 **Hayner Arden** : Fuck you, Axel  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** likes this)

 **Roxas Hikari:** WHAT IS THIS ABOUT SORA'S PUBES?  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** likes this)

 **Selphie Tilmitt:** TIDUS DYES HIS HAIR?  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** likes this)

 **Tidus Artz** : YO, AXEL, I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR APPRENTICE DOE  
 **Xion Soren** : Let's be real, Tidus: the only person to ever be worthy of being called Axel's apprentice is yours truly.  
( **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** likes this)

….

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** schools the basicz all day every day  
( **Xion Soren** , **Larxene Flash** , and **93 others** like this)

 **Larxene Flash** : Remember the time you were publicly humiliated by #theorganization during another one of your failed attempts at being cool? Because I do. It's probably one of my favorite memories.  
( **Zexion Scheme** , **Xaldin Armstrong** , and **127 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** ; we don't talk about that anymore i have expunged that event's existence from my purified memories

 **Xigbar Snype** : Okay, but did you expunge the memory of the time you never hit puberty and remained a whiny, attention-seeking, annoying-as-fuck prepubescent who orchestrates these elaborate schemes so that people will think he's cool even though all he really wants is Saïx's attention and approval again?  
( **Marluxia Rose** , **Zexion Scheme** , and **199 others** like this)

 **Axel ohmygawdimonfire** : GUYS WTFFF? we shouldn't talk about these things in public because we need to maintain our image this is a SOCIAL media site everyone can see this? what if SAĪX sees this? NOT COOL. NOT COOL.

 **Larxene Flash** : Maybe not cool, but it's fucking hilarious  
( **Xigbar Snype** , **Demyx Nocturne** , and **134 others** like this)

 **Saïx Lupine** : Too late.  
( **Xemnas Etheream** , **Xigbar Snype** , and **146 others** like this)

…..

 **Kairi Soto** : The last first day we'll ever have! (surprise)(blush)(applause) I'm so happy to be able to have shared the past thirteen years of my public school education with the same basis of dorks: even if we're not all together next year when we go off to college, I want you all to know that the memories that we've made are some of the best I know I'll ever have and it would literally be /impossible/ for me to forget any of you. I love you guys so much! Let's make this our best year yet! (heart)(heart)(heart)

[ _image currently not available_ ]

( **Sora Hikari** , **Riku Takama** , and **268 others** like this)

 **Selphie Tilmitt** : Geez, Kai, you're talking about us as though you're /expecting/ something bad to happen!  
( **Tidus Artz** , **Olette Hart** , and **19 others** like this)

 **Kairi Soto** : Well, you know, I /do/ have to worry when one of my closest friends is too busy cutting out pictures for celebrity collages that she fails all of her mid-terms…  
( **Hayner Arden** , **Pence Lawlet** , and **42 others** like this)

 **Selphie Tilmitt** : IT WAS ONE TIME

 **Tidus Artz** : IT WAS ONE TIME

 **Sora Hikari** : You guys are such dorks. I agree with Kairi though: we'll make sure that this is a senior year none of us could ever forget.  
( **Kairi Soto** , **Roxas Hikari** , and **29 others** like this)

* * *

"I heard that Hayner asked you out to Homecoming?"

I feel my nose twitch in disgust as I turn my attention away from the other set of twins and towards my brother. "I think that I'm actually _horrified_ that _that_ 's the rumor people choose to spread about me. Couldn't they make up something stupid about how I gave some chick gingivitis?"

Sora's brows furrow together in confusion. "How would you give somebody gingivitis?"

"Isn't that the name of an STD?"

Sora just stares at me blankly before deadpanning, "That is the _exact_ reason why nobody's going around spreading rumors about you giving chicks STDs: you don't even know what an STD _is_."

At this point I don't even feel annoyance. At this point, it's just complete and utter shame.

"There was an attempt."

"Yeah," Sora smirks, "There was _clearly_ an attempt."

We're seated in a haphazard formation in the courtyard's garden, where we've chosen to eat lunch since our freshman year. Principal Ansem apparently has an incredibly green thumb since the flowers are always blooming shades of primrose, damask, violet, magenta, coral, and cattleya. They decorate the otherwise dullness of the gray concrete with some sort of hopeful undertone that suggests that maybe the school isn't as awful as you'd first think; even during the dead of winter, sitting in the garden feels almost warm.

"Five minutes until the bell rings!" Olette calls.

The others are busy engaging in conversation, especially since Ventus and Vanitas have decided to "grace us" with their presence (as the amber-eyed boy had so _eloquently_ put it). I'm still not sure if it was Riku or Naminé who had chosen to extend an invitation, but based on the way Vanitas leans in to catch every word that flutters forth from Naminé's lips while she giggles at his brother's lame attempts at a joke, it's probably not the former.

"You're acting weird, Roxas," Sora states rather bluntly, knowing that we're essentially out of earshot. "You may not have gingivitis or whatever, but you've been so spacey today and some of the others are even starting to notice too. If there's anything wrong, you know that you can tell me, right?"

What scares me is that I'm not sure how to respond. As soon as the words depart from Sora's lips, my first instinct is to agree with him, to say, "I know, Sora, I'll tell you anything and everything and you shouldn't have to ask because you should _know that_." But for some reason, the words can't find their place in my vocal chords and I'm left staring at him with wide, confused eyes.

His stare pins me with their cobalt blue warmth and inside his eyes I notice something that I've never seen before: raw honesty that permeates the confines of the intangible; the solid resolve of a hero, a protector; a sacrifice that's so old and so ingrained into his existence that he's forgotten of its purpose as the foundation for his being; _fear_.

"S-Sora, are _you_ okay?"

There's something that flickers in his expression for a moment—something between hesitation and relief—but the look in his eyes dissipates almost immediately after it appears. What replaces it is the wide, lopsided grin I've known my whole life and a halfhearted smack to the head. "Stop trying to change the subject, dummy. As the older brother, _I_ 'm supposed to worry about _you_ —not the other way around."

"I think that it could be a two-way street though," I reply carefully. "You know that I can be here for you too if you need me, right?"

For a moment nothing is said between us: Sora just chooses to stick with his merry grin and I just stare at him with this feeling that I don't want to call desperation even though it is. I'm not sure where it's all coming from, but all I know is that this wave of emotion has overtaken my body and I'm not quite sure what to do with it and apparently neither are those who are close to me.

The bell rings.

Sora laughs as though I've told the most hysterical joke and ruffles my hair lightly. "Of course, Roxas. Who else will help me come up with an awesome plan to ask Kairi out to Homecoming?"

That's not the answer that I had wanted and I feel something in me sink a little lower. Instead, I force a smirk and offer my twin a light shove. "I mean, are you going to actually _ask her_ this time?"

He throws back his head with ringing joy at my retort before throwing his arm around me and carting the two of us closer towards the others.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette are laughing about something dumb the blond's just said, Selphie and Tidus are arguing about some petty detail about rumored new students, Riku, Xion, and Kairi have just wrapped up a conversation with our newcomers, and Vanitas and Naminé are playfully bickering about everything and nothing with identical twinkles in their eyes.

For a moment, it seems as though Ventus is nowhere to be seen, but when Sora and I turn, he seemingly appears out of nowhere.

 _Now. Time. Ready. NowTimeReady. Nowtimereadynowtimereadynow'sthetimeareyouready_ —

"Roxas?"

The arm around me runs slack as everything before me turns black and after that moment I can't remember anything else that occurred that day.

* * *

 **a/n** : so it's been _forever_ since i've updated this and i honestly can't apologize enough—just when it seemed i had gotten a momentum going too! haha

to put it bluntly, i've been swamped during my freshman year of high school and it's just super difficult to manage my time appropriately. hopefully i'll get better at that, but for now, consider this a thanksgiving gift to all of you! thank you so much for your support of this story, whether you're familiar to nonexistent or you're new to the serious: i honestly would have so much more difficulty finding the motivation to write if it weren't for all of you. i can't really remember which reviews i responded to (or if i responded to any before i temporarily went mia… otl), so i'll be responding to them briefly here. i promise that this won't become a common occurrence though!

before that, just some thoughts on this chapter: i'm a little worried that i got overexcited in introducing the more dramatic aspects of the story and may have rushed things a bit. even though i only really introduced two big plot points here, i'm not sure if it was done too abruptly for you guys? your thoughts on that would definitely be appreciated! i also started writing part of this in august and finished it up now (november), so i'm not sure if there are any obvious changes in my writing style. gold stars to whoever can figure out where the time lapse occurred in the text lol

now for responses!

Colorslander: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying this! I think that stories set in high school can sometimes get a little cliched, but hopefully I succeed in avoiding that, haha

Guest: Thanks for the feedback! Yes, the Sora/Kairi drama from the original version of _Nonexistent_ will definitely be making a comeback—albeit, in an entirely different form that I think is both more realistic and better tailored to the overall plot of the story. Keep your eyes out for it!

anon: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying yourself! The secrets of the Van/Ven/Nam relationship will be revealed eventually. c:

t0fura: I hope that you don't mind the lack of humor in this chapter too much. ;3; I'm finding it a bit difficult to balance the drama and the humor adequately, but I hopefully I'll prove myself to be a quick learner! I'm so excited to reveal the relationship of Van/Ven/Nam and how it ties into the story as a whole. I'm a bit worried that my excitement will make it seem as though I'm rushing through the story, but hopefully that doesn't end up being the case!

L: Welcome back to _Nonexistent_! I'm so happy to hear from one of my former readers. c: I honestly hate when one of my favorite fanfics ends up never being completed, so I feel super guilty when I'm one of the authors who decides to just go out there and drop a story. I hope that I don't disappoint you with this reboot! ;3;

Flightless-Tsuki: LOL, I honestly debated whether or not I should give Axel a proper last name in this reboot but figured that it was too iconic from the original _Nonexistent_ to be removed. Reading your comment makes me proud of myself for making the right choice, haha! I'm so glad to hear that there are obvious improvements in my writing compared to the original _Nonexistent_. I'm a little worried about the pacing for this reboot and striking the right balance of drama and comedy, but I really hope that I'll be able to find my way!

Sookdeo: At this point in my KH fanfic career, I think that writing Sora as _not_ overdramatic would actually be a challenge since I've become so used to it, LOL. I'm really glad that I caught the awkwardness between Roxas and Naminé well! I was honestly worried about how that scene would be perceived, but hearing that you experienced some secondhand awkwardness definitely makes me feel better about what I had written. I'm super excited to get into the Van/Ven/Nam relationship as well as a bit more explanation about the feud between the Kleuhs and the Hikaris—all in due time. c;

Sinful Sereneta: Wow, hi there! It's so great hearing from people who were avid writers back when I was first starting out in the KH fandom. c: I'm also super honored to hear that I was able to impress you in the first chapter of my story alone—you're definitely right when you say that occurrences like that are pretty rare. Yeah, I definitely agree with you when you mention that there are some moments in the story where it feels like the story drags a bit. My issue with the original _Nonexistent_ is that I would get sidetracked with keeping the story funny that the actual plot took a backseat to fluff and extended humorous scenes. The most difficult part when rewriting this is definitely striking a balance between drama and comedy, so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out quickly. ;3; This chapter especially is more on the drama side so I think that there'll definitely be some slower parts of the text. I apologize in advance! ;3;

My5tic-Lali: I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying the reboot! :D With the way the original story was going, it was probably going to finish in roughly fifty chapters; with the pace I've set here, I'm hoping that I'll be able to wrap this up in about twenty or twenty-five. I'm hoping that my choice to quicken the pace of the story is a good one!

Again, thank you to all those who favorited, followed, or reviewed my story—it really means a lot! I'm participating in some of the Secret Santa events on tumblr and offering up some of my fanfiction, but I'm definitely hoping that I'll find some time to update _Nonexistent_ in the coming month. Either way, I promise that I'll have more work posted in December! If any of you have a tumblr, feel free to follow me over at **nojeons**. Honestly debating whether or not I should switch my url to "sorashope," but I'm still super torn lol.

Until next time, guys!


End file.
